Malcolm followed Hiro, watching the sun set with a wary gaze. Hiro then decided to make camp, and Malcolm was inwardly grateful. He was tired, and truly didn’t like staying out at night.
He gave a noncommittal grunt to Hiro’s comment, watching him build a shelter. His eyes then locked on the red flash from Hiro’s spine and when he fell, Malcolm took a step forward. He rose an eyebrow at his own movement, bewildered.
Hiro was huffing in air harshly. " It's stable, you should rest" he said to malcolm
Malcolm snorted.
“I’m not the one panting like he just ran a fucking marathon. You rest. I’ll get some defenses up,”he replied.
He pulled out his toolkit and several vials of nanobots.
" you try raising a building" he quiped back. Though he did take the advice and make a small pallette on the floor from old materials
Malcolm snorted, then busied himself with creating several small guardians. With the nanobots, and their quick replication, and a handful of metal scraps he kept with him, it was an easy task, even in the darkness.
Afterward, he settled down against one of the walls, staring absently ahead. He found it difficult to sleep outside the familiarity of his home.
hiro, who'd been used to hiding all his life, hide well in the shadows.
Malcolm didn’t much care where Hiro was. He knew he was inside, so that was it. But, his presence, in a strange way that Malcolm didn’t really like, grounded him.
Eventually, after who knew how long, Malcolm’s exhaustion got the better of him and he fell asleep.
hiro got up at the ass crack of dawn, getting up and patroling around
(‘Ass crack of dawn’, lol)
Malcolm stirred slightly, but fell back asleep. He snored a bit, though not overtly loud. Most of his little machines gathered around him when Hiro got up, but a few followed Hiro, patrolling with him.
(I’m going to say there’s… seven? of the little guardians. Four or five are with Malcolm, and the others are with Hiro)
(okay) hiro chuckled, holding out his hands for the little bots " coming to keep me safe?"
One of the bots climbed onto Hiro’s hand, flashing blue. It then climbed up onto his shoulder and settled, scanning the area from its better vantage point.
hiro chuckled and walked on " lets go up the street," he talked to the bot like a friend
The bot flashed again, seeming satisfied with Hiro’s words. The others followed a few feet behind, scanning everything they passed.
hiro eventually came back, letting the small bot hed made friends with stay on his shoulder " happy up there?" he asked
The bot flashed like before, not moving whatsoever. The other two joined the rest of the bots guarding Malcolm. He still snored.
hiro worried about malcolm. " think he'll be alright? one flash for yes two flash for no,"
The bot seemed to understand Hiro’s concern and scanned Malcolm. After a moment to process the scan, it flashed once.
hiro nodded " thanks bud." he said and leaned on the wall " gotta name?"
The bot kept to the ‘one flash for yes, two for no’ and flashed twice.
" you want a name?" he asked tilting his head a bit
The bot didn’t respond for a while, as if contemplating the question. It then shifted its legs in a sort of a shrug.
hiro chuckled " hows bax.. short for baxster." he said and nudged the bot with his finger kinda like a pet.
The bot considered the name, then flashed once. It didn’t seem to mind the nudge.
" okay bax, get some rest, we'll be walking here soon. "
Bax shifted a bit, as if somewhat confused by the suggestion to rest, then simply settled back onto Hiro’s shoulder.
At Hiro’s comment, one of the other bots moved up to Malcolm and tapped on him. He snorted, then blinked open his eyes.
“What’d I miss?”he asked drowsily after noticing Hiro was up.